Veteran wins fight of his life

Veteran wins fight of his life
Posted: August 20, 2011

By Tim Carpenter
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
GREELEY — U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts is convinced unethical behavior trapped a mentally ill Vietnam-era seaman in an unnecessary eight-year bureaucratic battle ending with a 100 percent disability award sought by the Kansas veteran.

"This has been a nightmare for this man," said Roberts, a Kansas Republican and U.S. Marine veteran. "I'd say there's been criminal activity here."

George Hall enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1961 and served aboard the USS Cavalier in waters off Vietnam in 1964. He had pursued a claim for post-traumatic stress disorder since 2003. The case was highlighted by federal and state veteran agency officials' distortion of Hall's military record and introduction of a forged document intended to sidetrack his case.

For years, Hall was dismissed privately and publicly as a belligerent opportunist by staff members at the Wichita regional office of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and at the Kansas Commission on Veterans Affairs. The Topeka Capital-Journal published a story in 2010 detailing Hall's effort to obtain VA assistance for the stress disorder.

In May, a VA psychologist in Topeka affirmed Hall had the illness frequently associated with experiencing traumatic events involving threat of injury or death. The doctor declared his condition warranted a full disability rating.
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